Acetaldehyde is an inevitable product in alcohol metabolism, but has a strong toxicity. It is generally known that acetaldehyde causes acute poisoning, gastrointestinal upset, nausea, headache, and an unpleasant symptom such as drink sickness or hangover when an alcohol drink is ingested excessively (Patent Literature 1).
When an alcohol is ingested excessively, alcohol metabolism is selectively enhanced in the liver. As a result, a large change may occur in a metabolism system of the liver. The majority of ingested alcohol becomes acetaldehyde through an alcohol dehydrogenase system present in cytosol of liver cells. Acetaldehyde is usually converted into acetic acid by being subjected to a dehydrogenation reaction by aldehyde dehydrogenase. However, when the alcohol ingestion amount is too large, or alcohol metabolism is late due to poor physical conditions, acetaldehyde is not fully processed, a blood acetaldehyde level is increased, and an unpleasant symptom such as drink sickness or hangover due to the toxicity of acetaldehyde may occur. Therefore, how to promote alcohol metabolism and suppress an increase in the blood acetaldehyde concentration is important for preventing an unpleasant symptom such as drink sickness or hangover.
In recent years, development of an oral agent for promoting alcohol metabolism and suppressing the blood acetaldehyde level at a low level has been studied (Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3). However, still now, an oral agent capable of effectively promoting alcohol metabolism or suppressing an increase in the blood acetaldehyde level is required.
On the other hand, it has been reported that a processed shellfish food is used as a functional food having a health-promoting function. For example, it is known that a hepatic disorder is suppressed by suppressing an increase in AST and ALT values by using either a blue mussel molluscous portion or a blue mussel extract (Patent Literature 4).
However, there has been no report about a relationship between a Veneroida bivalve and an action for suppressing an increase in the blood acetaldehyde level.
This time, the present inventors administered an extract of a Veneroida bivalve comprising glycogen to a subject, and have found that an increase in the blood acetaldehyde level caused by ingestion of alcohol can be effectively suppressed. The present invention is based on this knowledge.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel alcohol metabolism promoter capable of suppressing an increase in the blood acetaldehyde level.